An upfront deal with MediaVest gives Hulu a piece of broadcast's dollars

Hulu is drawing nearer to its goal of getting a big chunk of broadcast TV dollars thanks to an upfront commitment from MediaVest. The Publicis Groupe agency is committing several million dollars of ad spending to Hulu over the next year as part of an upfront deal targeted to demographic clusters. The agreement includes at least six MediaVest clients, with potentially more to join. That it was crafted on audience demos aligns Hulu's ad sales more closely with how broadcast deals are cut. Hulu determines demographics for its content based on a combination of data from Nielsen, comScore and its own user registration lists. For Hulu, the deal represents an important step in building its ad business to match its buzz factor. Since its public debut in March 2008, the site has steadily built its audience. According to comScore, Hulu is now the No. 2 video site, serving 393 million streams in August, more than triple a year earlier. The video hub has the largest cache of high-quality content online, with TV programming from NBC Universal, News Corp. and some Disney properties. CBS remains a holdout, with CBS Interactive head Quincy Smith recently saying Hulu is driving down the TV ratings for some programs.